Northeastern State Declines National Food Assistance Aimed at Communities Hit by Drought and Conflict
Bosaso (AX) – In a twist of fate both intriguing and contentious, Northeastern State’s regional leaders have turned down food aid supplied by the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA). This aid was intended to assist communities beleaguered by drought and conflict in Northeastern State. However, suspicions regarding both the aid’s origins and its distribution process have cast a shadow over its intended purpose.
During a no-holds-barred press briefing in Bosaso on the Sabbath, Northeastern State’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, arm in arm with the Minister of Information, unleashed a tirade filled with accusations towards the Somali Federal Government. They charged the government with rerouting aid earmarked for Northeastern State into the hands of private entities, including some with political clout within Northeastern State itself.
With sharp tongues and pointed fingers, the ministers berated the Federal Government, alleging it had been repackaging previously stashed food reserves under the guise of fresh supply for Northeastern State.
“The trek of food from the cavernous confines of Suuq Bacad to Northeastern State, spirited in cloak-and-dagger manner, smacks of the corruption festering within the Federal Government of Somalia. Not a whisper reached Northeastern State ministries,” declared Northeastern State’s Information Minister with theatrical flair.
Northeastern State officials, like a dog gnawing a bone, vehemently promised to press legal charges against anyone caught surreptitiously delivering Federal Government’s food packages into their lands. They swore to bring this allegation of grub mismanagement to the attention of international benefactors, urging these moneybags to perhaps rethink the faith placed in the Somali Federal Government.
Roll the clock back a few days, and we see the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delivering a hefty 700 tons of food relief to Somalia, meticulously crafted to soothe the parched throats of families tormented by the harsh drought gripping the Horn of Africa. This delivery was celebrated through ceremonious handshakes and earnest smiles shared between UAE’s Ambassador to Somalia, Ahmed Juma Al-Rumaithi, and SoDMA’s very own Commissioner, Mahmoud Moallim Abdulle.
According to SoDMA, they’ve evenly spread the largesse like butter on toast across several thirst-ridden regions, portioning 300 tons to the sun-baked soil of Kismayo in Jubaland State, and 200 tons to the hardy people of Garowe in Northeastern State.
The shipment received by Northeastern State on a lazy Saturday marked the encore of this generous orchestration.
It’s a high-stakes chess game of altruism, politics, and probable intrigue. One can’t help but wonder: what’s the deal with aid that feeds doubt as much as it does hungry mouths? Are the people of Northeastern State caught in the crossfire of officialdom’s intrigues? Perhaps only time, and maybe a healthy sprinkling of transparency, will tell.
Report By Axadle
